Rush Limbaugh, literary journalist
Journalist Alan Weisman has just published The World Without Us, a non-fiction tome based on an intriguing premise: how would the Earth change if the human population disappeared overnight? The book has already drawn some press, including this piece in Newsweek. And the Newsweek piece in turn has drawn the notice of shock jock Rush Limbaugh, who castigated both the book and the “Drive-By Media” (look alive, folks, he’s talking to us) on his radio show.
Quillblog is currently in the midst of reading The World Without Us, and can testify that it’s essentially a curious and dispassionate look at various aspects of ecology and biology, free of value judgments. But Limbaugh, who has clearly never so much as glanced at the book and apparently reached the limits of his comprehension skills just struggling through the Newsweek story, blusters that the article’s “about how great the planet could be again if we were just all wiped out, and it focuses on a guy who’s trying to accomplish that.” This shouldn’t need repeating, but just in case: Weisman is not some eco-terrorist.
Limbaugh froths on:
How does a guy write a story like this? Writing about some clown that wants to kill him, wipe him off the face the earth — and this Weisman guy, the subject of the story, acts like he’s not even part of the human race. “They,” “you,” but never “us,” in his words.
Actually, Weisman uses the first-person plural throughout the book. Starting with, um, the title.
It’s beyond me how somebody like this can be so popular. Is he a genius at giving the people what they want and/or is the American avg. IQ somewhere around the temperature of my pool?
Ha, ha, well Bill, if you’re a Canadian, I won’t waste my time trying to explain why Americans, the wealthiest, most powerful, most innovative people in the world, obviously don’t have IQ’s the temp of your pool (btw, in Canada? What’s the temp., 10 degrees? Oh, wait you all use Celsius, right? Fuckin’ wierdos. Who needs a pool in Canada, anyway?). You guys’ biggest achievements are strong beer, trees, ice, and syrup. And I can’t forget that milk in a bag, eh?
Actually I was kidding around. I have a bunch of American friends and they’re awesome. I’ve also visited 46 states (how about you?) I was actually thinking about moronic Americans (the un-silent minority). Sounds like you may qualify. How did Canadians achieve trees? I need a pool because it’s around 96 degrees today (translated for you) and hey..what’s wrong with good beer?